One-day drive on April 24 is a crucial contributor to summer reserves, at a time when food banks are often running low on supplies.

Student volunteers sort donations at the North York Harvest Food Bank, one of three GTA food banks that rely on the annual Spring Hope food drive by more than 2,000 apartment buildings across the province.

Apartment dwellers and building managers are getting ready for what has become one of the largest spring food drives in the province.

This will be the 12th year for the Spring HOPE (Housing Owners and People Everywhere) Food Drive, involving more than 2,000 rental-housing properties across the province. Volunteers will go door-to-door from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on April 24 to collect food for local food banks.

“When we first started, no one gave our industry credit for making an effort to put food on the table for those in need,” says organizer Bonnie Hoy of Bonnie Hoy & Associates. “Now, we’ve become the largest door-to-door food drive in the country, and food banks rely heavily on our participation to meet their targets.”

Hoy has worked over the years to encourage landlords to participate in the drive. In the beginning, there were about 75 buildings, all in the GTA. Now, there are more than 2,000 from Toronto, Ottawa, London, Hamilton and Kitchener.

Partners in the program include the Greater Toronto Apartment Association, the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, The Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization and the London Property Management Association.

Last year’s drive collected about 500,000 pounds of food, at a time when food banks are getting low on supplies and desperate for donations.

“They tell us that, without our donations in the spring, people would go hungry through the summer; because while they have the Christmas and Thanksgiving drives, the spring is a difficult time for collections,” says Cora Armstrong, senior property manager with Schickedanz Bros. Properties, which has six apartment buildings participating this year.

Building managers distribute posters to promote the drive and encourage tenants to participate.

“We try to verbally get people excited about it by talking to tenants in the elevator and around the building. We also place door hangers on apartment doors to increase participation,” says Armstrong.

Initially, managers just placed containers in the lobbies to collect donations. But it became apparent the program needed a stronger push and some education about what to donate (non-perishable items such as canned goods). In the early days, Armstrong says they received some strange donations, such as raw meat.

“We organized a group of staff to go door-to-door and found it was much more successful, and it’s just grown from there,” she says. “We find the staff are really involved and enjoy doing it. My son is in his last year of high school and still participates in collecting.”

“When you think about it, one-third of the people in Toronto live in apartment buildings — that’s a big group to tap into for donations,” says Hoy. “This is a great initiative, where landlords and tenants work together. It’s a time when landlords are interacting with tenants at their doors in a situation where they’re not just looking for the rent cheque.”

The drive is supported largely by volunteers, including high-school students who can earn credits toward their required community-service hours.

In addition to the door-to-door canvas, cash donations are accepted by superintendents or site offices. Online donations can be made through the Spring Hope website at www.springhopefooddrive.ca, and the funds can be directed to the North York Harvest, the Mississauga Food Bank or the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Buildings that would like to participate can find more information on the website.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.